March AlphaKIT: H and Q

The AlphaKIT letters for March are:

    and

Don't forget to put your reading in the wiki: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2015_Unofficial_AlphaKIT#March

At the moment (and we all know how long that lasts) planning on Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson and Imperium by Robert Harris.

Facing a shortage of Q's in my TBR stack so am planning on The Female Quixote from the library. Am also going to read The House at the End of Hope Street.

I've another big list for March.

✔ Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
✔Haunted on Bourbon Street%
✔Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
✔A Question of Belief%
Chapter and Hearse
✔House at Riverton %
✔The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Hanging by a Thread %
✔Happily Ever After %

A few options for Q for me:
- Dog On It / Spencer Quinn
- The Queen's Vow
- The Queen's Mistake
- The Queen's Lady
- The Queen of Last Hopes
(Not sure which I'll choose...)

For H:
- King Leopold's Ghost / Adam Hochschild
- The Hour I First Believed / Wally Lamb
- Horns / Joe Hill
And more, but these are the more likely ones.

>5 LibraryCin: I love Dog On It! And the sequels I've read. :)

>6 fuzzi: I don't even remember who suggested it to me, or even if it was someone here or on shelfari, but I only added it to my tbr fairly recently.

How convenient that I don't own the 3rd Travis McGee book so that I will be reading The Quick Red Fox in March!

5> Thanks for the reminder . . . I received Dog On It from SantaThing last year and haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

>9 BookLizard: No worries! Hope you like it. It's now looking like I might not get to it myself this month.

Lots of possible H's, but Q's are bit thin on the ground.

>11 Robertgreaves: QB VII is excellent.

And I loved The Queen's Man.

:)

I was thinking about what's on my physical and virtual TBR shelves. I saw the TV adaptation of QB VII as a teenager.

I've decided tat since the AlphaKit is going so well for me (I've done each letter so far) that my goal is to have at least one book done for each letter by the end of the year.

>13 Robertgreaves: I never saw the television adaption, but I recall it being on...but the book is superb.

>6 fuzzi:;>7 LibraryCin:
I read them all last year and they were great fun!

>16 ccookie: Oh, jeez! How many are there?

My first AlphaKit. I'm planning to read Quicksand by Junichiro Tanizaki.

A rivetting tale of malevolent corruption masked by a terrible and deceptive beauty.

I've read two of his other books, The Makioka Sisters and Some Prefer Nettles, and liked them so much I'm prepared to take a risk on Quicksand, even though it sounds very nasty.

>17 LibraryCin: I think 7, but I've not yet read them all. :)

They're quick and light reads, fun books.

>19 fuzzi: OK, thanks. That's good to know!

March is going to be crazy for me, and the alphacat letters don't fit with my other already planned reads, so I'm going to fit in two books of poetry, which will go a bit more quickly. The first is going to be Queen for a Day, which has been sitting on my tbr shelf for ages, so this will be a good chance to fit it in :) I started it Sunday night, and so far, the poems are lovely! I'm not sure it's going to remain for those moments when I don't have time to dig into a novel...I may just sit and finish it sooner than later! I'm tentatively planning on reading a chapbook called Extant Shamanisms for the letter 'H', another one I've had on my tbr for some time, but the author's surname begins with H, so it fits!

Finished The House at the End of Hope Street for my H book. What a wonderful story about a magical house that helps women at a crossroads in their life. Sounds crazy, but it was a delightful idea and made me wish a house like that existed.

22> Sounds great, not crazy. Going on my wishlist for September's SFFFCAT challenge.

I often can find a "Q" book since I have a lot of books about Quakers. This month, which is a very busy reading month for me, I read a short book, Quakers and the Arts by David Sox. It is a history of Quakerism and the arts (including literature) in Britain and the United States, examining the Friends' beliefs (feelings) concerning the arts -- from the beginning of Quakerism when Friends were opposed to all forms of art til the modern day when Friends value the arts. (This book was published in 2000.) Especially for Quaker artists who painted, wrote, etc. when art was not accepted, Mr. Sox discusses their feelings toward the arts, especially in relationship to their artistic work. Some of the artists, poets, etc. discussed were practicing Quakers; others had some background in Quakerism even if it was just their ancestors who were Quakers.

I just finished a fabulous book by M K Hume, The Last Dragon: Twilight of the Celts. It is the first book in a series about what happens after the end of King Arthur's rule.

Horns / Joe Hill
4 stars

26-year old Ig wakes up one day after an evening of drinking to find he has grown horns! What's even more surprising is people don't really seem to notice. Not only that, people start spilling their worst secrets to him.

His girlfriend of ten years, Merrin, had previously been raped and murdered. Now, Ig is able to learn more about what happened... and he is bent on revenge.

I really liked this. It is told from different points of view and also in flashbacks, but it's not difficult to follow, I didn't think.

Just finished Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems. Not something I'd recommend, much as I hate to say it, and much as it had a promising start. Still, full review written.

And...I read Extant Shamanisms by j/j hastain. Short collection of poetry...not something I'd recommend...but there is a full review written.

The Queen's Vow / C.W. Gortner
4 stars

Isabella of Castile ruled Castile with her husband Ferdinand of Aragon in the mid- to late-15th century. This work of fiction follows her from when she was born until about 1492, when she granted Christopher Columbus some funds to explore and just after the Jews were expelled from Castile if they didn't convert to Catholicism.

I didn't know much about Isabella of Castile, beyond her being Katherine of Aragon's and Juana of Castile's (“Mad Juana”) mother and that she went to battle with her army. I really enjoyed this! I listened to the audio and although the narrator had a British accent, otherwise it was fine. It mostly held my interest (though I did find my mind wandering during battle scenes near the end!), but I found the rest very interesting. It seemed that – at least in some things – she was forward thinking (but not in everything). The book had her conflicted about the banishment of the Jews, but as Gortner pointed out in his note at the end (I love author's notes at the end of historical fiction!), we don't really know what she thought personally. I should also admit to not waiting till the end of the book to “find” the author's note – remember, I was listening to the audio, so I couldn't just flip ahead – and just checking out wikipedia for more on Isabella!

>29 LibraryCin:
"although the narrator had a British accent, otherwise it was fine"

And what is wrong with a British accent?

>30 Robertgreaves: Nothing! I was just expecting a Spanish accent!

I guess I just didn't think about how that sounded. Should have made it more obvious in the review. Sorry!

>30 Robertgreaves:: I was thinking the same thing, glad you asked!
>31 LibraryCin:: Perfectly clear explanation!

31> I knew what you meant. :-)

:-)
A Spanish accent would have been very suitable, given the subject matter. I wonder how they allocate readers to audiobooks.

>29 LibraryCin:, that book has been on my Wishlist since it's release. You've written an excellent review. I have read a couple of Gortner's other books and they are pretty good too.

Thanks, everyone! Yes, >34 Robertgreaves: that's why I was expecting Spanish accent, so I was just surprised. I suppose if I thought about it, so many books are simply read by an American voice - and some people "do" accents better than others. I'm not sure if Gortner is British or if his publisher is, but it probably isn't that unusual to get someone with that accent reading whatever book, either!

From the discussion, at least I know there are people who read the reviews I post! ;-)

>35 Roro8: Yes, my favourite Gortner so far has been The Last Queen, which is about Juana of Castile (one of Isabella's daughters... aka "Mad Juana"). I've also read his Catherine de Medici book (didn't like that one as much as these other two), and one other I'm not remembering at the moment. It think it was the first in a series, but I'm not sure I liked it as much as any of these other three. I don't think I'll continue that series. Overall, though, I do quite like his books.

>36 LibraryCin:, it sounds like we have read the same Gortner books. My favourite was also The Last Queen! I started his mystery series too but didn't like it as much as his other books.

>36 LibraryCin: Yes, it was the mystery series that I didn't like as much. It's odd. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres (if I had to choose!), but for some reason I don't (in general) find historical mysteries quite as interesting. I have no idea why!

Finished "Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories" today. Fun stuff for Christie fans!

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa / Adam Hochschild
4 stars

In the late 19th century and early 20th century King Leopold II of Belgium ruled the Congo as a Belgian colony. But really, he ruled it for himself, not for Belgium. The greedy man was desperate for a colony, something bigger than his own small country. When he colonized the Congo, he wanted everything he could get, initially from the ivory, then later from the wild rubber trees. He enslaved the Congolese, who were treated terribly. However, Leopold was charming and was able to hide much of what was going on there from the rest of the world. Bit by bit, a few Europeans and Americans could see what was happening while they were there, and brought that information to the rest of the world.

Wow, to compare to wider-known atrocities, I thought there were shades of both American slavery and Nazi Germany in Leopold's Congo. It was quite horrifying. I will admit to finding the start a bit slow, as it was more about Leopold and the politics of finding an African colony that he could rule. I occasionally lost interest there. But, it got more interesting as time went on and other people were finding out what was happening. It was originally written in 1998, but my ebook had a 2005 update.

Finished Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. Excellent book.

I'm currently reading Howl's Moving Castle. :)

About to start The Quick Red Fox…

The Hour I First Believed / Wally Lamb
3.75 stars

Caelum and his wife, Maureen, both work at Columbine High School. While Caelum is away just after his aunt dies, the shooting happens. It turns out Maureen was in the library and survived the shooting. The first half of the book focuses on the aftermath and how Caelum and Maureen deal with what happened. Unfortunately, Maureen has a lot of trouble dealing with it and has flashbacks.

I thought this was quite good. I really liked the first half, but the second half got too bogged down in Caelum's family history, which I didn't find nearly as interesting. The first half, I'd rate 4 stars, but because the second half wasn't as good, I couldn't quite give it a full 4 stars. Really, it felt like it could have been two separate books. Overall, though, I quite liked it.

I just read Frederica, my first try at Georgette Heyer...and I really enjoyed it!

>45 fuzzi: :-) That is one of my favorite Heyer books -- I think because of Felix!

I liked Felix, too!

All I can say is that I "finished" The Female Quixote and by finished I mean, read over half and then skipped to the end to see how it all turned out. Just could not take another minute of Arabella and her adventures. It was fine for a while but about halfway through I realized that if I had to spend much more time with her I would scream.

>48 LittleTaiko: I just had a similar experience with The Lightning Thief, which I really wanted to like, because it's one of my son's favorite books. Plus, it was a gift to me from him. Sigh.

I finished my Q book one day late (on April 1st) but counting it anyway... I read The Quick Red Fox which is the 4th Travis McGee mystery. I liked it but it wouldn't be to everyone's tastes (the early 1960s flavor is pretty strong making it a bit dated).

Well, we are an unofficial challenge so no problem at all counting books that miss the end of month by a day or two. :)